Aurora Beacon-News

A car drove into a chiropractic clinic on Aurora's West Side Thursday afternoon, injuring one person and trapping an employee in her office, according to police. At about 2:25 p.m., a 79-year-old woman driving a 2013 Mercedes pulled into a parking spot in front of Pure Health Physical Medicine...

Local sports

Aurora Christian's Tori Henning plays basketball with the measured pace atypical of a sophomore. It shouldn't surprise. Henning, a 5-foot-8 guard, comes from a strong pedigree. Her dad, Quinn, played on the 1990 Aurora Christian boys basketball team that placed fourth in Class A. Henning's breakout...

Want the bottom line? Moral victories count for nothing, save for the possibility of some brief peace of mind for the losing team. Eric Cannon and his Waubonsie Valley teammates would probably agree. Even though they stayed with Glenbard North into the fourth quarter of Wednesday's 60-53 DuPage Valley...

Tressa Cwinski received a twist on her usual game night routine Tuesday. Not that the Aurora Central Catholic sophomore minded. Cwinski, a 5-foot-8 guard/forward, usually starts in the sophomore game. Then she gets a few minutes with the varsity. "I told her Monday at practice that I didn't want her...

It's his team now. That may seem strange to say about Newark's Will Clausel, given the fact he's a couple weeks into his fourth varsity season as the team's starting point guard. But it's true. Much has changed. This is the first season Will Clausel isn't playing alongside older brother Jack, a 6-foot-6...

Lifestyles

Sometimes, you just want to sing. That is the thought behind the Fox County Players' new community chorus, which gives area residents a chance to get together and make music. "We would all say as performers that 'oh, we miss the days when we were in choir in high school and college,' and it's difficult...

Brittany Morris and her colleagues at Aurora University have an idea about what to do when the question pops up regarding what's for dinner. "We came up with a web application that allows you to type in ingredients that you have around the house and then it finds a recipe that uses them," the 24-year-old...

Bells will be ringing throughout the Fox Valley this holiday season, thanks to the many volunteers ringing bells for the Salvation Army. This time of year, the greatest impact can be made through volunteering, Salvation Army Capt. Rich Forney of Aurora said. The money collected by Salvation Army...

It was a historic night at St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church in Aurora Tuesday. The church hosted the investiture services for the Rev. John F. White, 69, as president of the Council of Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church for the Fourth Episcopal District, which covers a...

Opinion

Retired West Aurora High School chemistry teacher Dick Ebeling and his late uncle Bert Eberling don't share the same spelling of their last names – two sides of the family disagreed on the original version – but they do share a passion for collecting military patches and insignias that has its...

The couches weren't there yet. Nor were the stools or the tables or flat-screen television. But even though The Garage is not quite ready to welcome at-risk youngsters to this hangout where they can also receive life-skills training, it was far enough along for an "almost open house" last Friday...

And then there were three. Well, actually there were only two. John Terrell of Batavia, who was aboard the USS Perry on Dec. 7, 1941, was not able to attend Monday's Pearl Harbor Day Memorial Luncheon in Aurora, honoring the 75th anniversary of the surprise Japanese attack that launched the country...

Sanctuary cities: I want to comment about sanctuary cities. They protect the good, the bad and the ugly. They don't scrutinize who gets what. We need to end sanctuary cities. If people broke the law to get here, they need to go back and then come here by following the rules. Doubts about The Donald:...

Aurora crime

The hospital emergency room physician who coordinated Tuesday's treatment of 14 sick Naperville North High School students said the gummy bear candy the students ate contained marijuana. Jennifer E. McNulty is the medical director for the Pediatric Emergency Department and Pediatrics at Edward...

If the events of Tuesday morning at Edward Hospital in Naperville barely fazed Jennifer McNulty, it's probably a safe bet that nothing ever will. McNulty is medical director of the hospital's pediatric emergency department. She began her day at the side of her husband, Kevin McNulty, who was being...

Aurora police seized heroin, cocaine and marijuana with a street value of more than $53,000 in two recent traffic stops, police said Wednesday. Most recently, at about 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, police stopped a 2015 Jeep Cherokee after it pulled out in front of a patrol officer at Fox Pointe Drive and...

An Aurora police officer charged with theft by deception – who was recently fired by the department - appeared in court Wednesday morning, when her lawyer and the judge arranged for her next pre-trial hearing to take place in late January. Kimberly R. Hanson, 43, of Plano, is next scheduled to...

Photo galleries

Most read stories this hour

An Aurora man with a history of choking and beating women was sentenced Wednesday to 48 years in prison for the 2014 strangulation of his estranged girlfriend. After listening to testimony from three women who had relationships with and were allegedly abused by Jose Loera, DuPage County Judge George...

Four guards at a youth correctional center in St. Charles are accused of encouraging some detainees to attack other detainees as a form of discipline, the Kane County state's attorney's office announced Monday. The men charged live in Yorkville, Channahon, Rockford and St. Charles. Johan O. Asiata,...

Jessie Grady walked into a Michaels store last week in Chicago to buy a Santa hat for her young daughter. She ended up witnessing — and filming — another customer's "unprovoked attack" in which the woman unloaded on black Michaels employees, claiming she was being discriminated against and declaring...

An undercover sting on Chicago's Southwest Side ended in a hail of bullets after two reputed gang members opened fire after handing over three handguns in exchange for $1,500 from an undercover informant, Cook County prosecutors said Wednesday. The joint operation by the FBI and Chicago police...

President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Education drew fire Wednesday from Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis. Lewis said Betsy DeVos, an advocate for privately run charter schools and school vouchers, would seek to expand policies that have "been proven to...

As lawmakers prepare to wrap up the fall session, Exelon and ComEd on Wednesday announced an agreement with Gov. Bruce Rauner to raise rates on consumers to help two struggling nuclear power plants. The last-minute attempt to resolve the long-festering electricity issue came on a day the Republican...

In persuading Carrier to keep hundreds of jobs in Indiana, President-elect Donald Trump is claiming victory on behalf of factory workers whose positions were bound for Mexico. But the scant details that have emerged so far raise doubts about the extent of the victory. By enabling Carrier's Indianapolis...

The pilot of the chartered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team told air traffic controllers he had run out of fuel and desperately pleaded for permission to land before crashing into the Andes, according to a leaked recording of the final minutes of the doomed flight. In the sometimes chaotic...

When people start throwing Nazi salutes in public, it has a way of clarifying where everybody stands. The loosely defined “alt-right” movement — made up of social-media-savvy white supremacists, neo-Nazis, anti-Semites, misogynists and other fringe figures who supported Donald Trump’s election...

While we're still analyzing the election results and debating the importance of different factors to the final outcome, everyone agrees that white working-class voters played a key part in Donald Trump's victory, in some cases by switching their votes and in some cases by turning out when they...

"Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind," one of the longest running shows in Chicago history and a fixture at the Neo-Futurarium in Andersonville, is to close Dec. 31. The comedic, sketch-style production, which has played since 1988, has reached thousands of audience members and is known for...

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders are set to resume budget talks again Thursday morning as a stopgap spending plan is set to expire at year's end, and the governor is laying out his terms before the meeting even begins.Facing continued resistance from Democratic House Speaker...

Even for the scion of a billionaire family, Todd Ricketts has had an eclectic career — trader in a securities industry startup, part-owner of the Chicago Cubs, proprietor of a suburban bike shop and even guest star on a reality show. But through it all, Ricketts has maintained unwavering devotion...

At long last, rain fell on the scorched Appalachian town of Gatlinburg, Tenn., on Wednesday after savage wildfires blazed across eastern Tennessee, killing seven people, forcing thousands to evacuate and burning hundreds of homes to the ground. Yet even as rainstorms helped firefighters douse the...

The addition of center fielder Jon Jay makes general manager Jed Hoyer even more confident about a Cubs lineup that will mark the return of slugger Kyle Schwarber in 2017. "From an offensive standpoint we feel very good about our group," Hoyer said Wednesday during a conference call. Nevertheless,...

Two construction workers who were found dead at an unfinished townhouse they were working on in Lockport this week each suffered a fatal gunshot wound, the Will County Coroner's office said. Following an autopsy Wednesday, the office identified the men as brothers Marco Ceja-Sanchez, 37, and David...

Baseball players and owners reached a tentative agreement on a five-year labor contract Wednesday night, a deal that will extend the sport's industrial peace to 26 years since the ruinous fights in the first two decades of free agency. After days of near round-the-clock talks, negotiators reached...

It is a familiar scenario: Team loses a close game; coach criticizes officials; coach is fined for criticizing officials. It happened again Saturday when Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh went on at length Saturday after his team's double-overtime loss to Ohio State about several calls he thought were...

When George W. Bush assembled his first cabinet in 2001, news reports dubbed them a team of millionaires, and government watchdogs questioned whether they were out of touch with most Americans' problems. Combined, that group had an inflation-adjusted net worth of about $250 million - which is roughly...

The Tribune's Brad Biggs answers your questions weekly. Any word if Deiondre' Hall will be back on the field this year? -- @stephenclapp1 Yes, I think there is a chance Hall gets back on the field. It might not happen this week. Hall returned to practice last week after sitting out the previous...

The judge in the murder trial of a white former patrolman who fatally shot a black motorist decided Wednesday to let the jury consider a lesser charge of manslaughter, meaning prosecutors won't have to prove the officer acted out of malice when he shot the fleeing man in the back. Michael Slager...

The opening scene in the third episode of Netflix's new "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" features Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and her daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel) sitting by a pool in Stars Hollow, doing their usual quick banter. But the snappy dialogue turns obnoxious as they start mocking their...

Ronald Reagan was president when Michael Madigan, a Democrat, became speaker of the Illinois House in 1983. Reagan served two terms and died in 2004, and his name adorns schools, roads, parks and an airport. A generation has passed since he left the White House. And Madigan? He is still speaker,...

The golden Moutza of November is at hand. Yet some are worried that certain Castro-praising liberals who didn't even bother voting for a moutza will begin to whine, then blame everyone but themselves, and loudly demand a recount. "Will there be a recount after the column is published?" asked Patrick...

Two men were killed and at least six others have been wounded from Wednesday afternoon to early Thursday in shootings across the city, Chicago police said. The most recent fatal shooting was on the West Side just after 1:15 a.m. Thursday. Marqual Bailey, 19, was found unresponsive in East Garfield...